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The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
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It was with a dismal sense of inevitability that I read the bulk of the responses to the survey regarding family-friendly diving centres (Big Question, December 2004).
If all those who made wise-cracks about screaming children and the "adults only" preserve that diving represents for them turned the clock back a few years, they would be seething to see the "grown-ups" setting obstacles to new entrants to "their" sport.
I love the release that a challenging dive with my regular buddy gives me from the daily responsibilities of fatherhood and being a jobbing instructor, but if I had to choose between the boorish attitude of "nouveau tekkies" and the sheer delight of a newly qualified 12-year- old, I'd be pootling around at 12m for the rest of my diving career!
Diving needs to keep those it already has and attract new recruits to survive and flourish, and it is families and young people who will keep the industry fresh. Without a regular stream of income from the "bread-and-butter" equipment lines, those hardened "experts" who like to be at the bleeding edge of the sport won't have new toys to play with. It costs a lot for manufacturers to develop a new product, so be careful what you all wish for!
I hope diving never becomes what you grown-ups desire. I will work as hard as I can to make sure that when families approach me, all the members are considered.
I will certainly patronise centres and skippers who make the extra effort - my six-year-old son is a regular on dive-boats in Gozo, and it's a shame he can't come on a rainy day in England, as he's far better at spotting an SMB than most of the usual myopic occupants, myself included.
I certainly won't suggest to a married buddy pair who want to add to the ranks of divers that one or both of them hang up their fins.
Long may we see the stream of young recruits who loved going with their parents on diving holidays and trips, rather than hating their mum or dad (or both) for abandoning them, or for regretting their arrival because it meant the end of their days under water.
If we don't protect what we have, and make it easier for people to continue to dive and get their kids involved, we'll go the same way as the really crap "adult" sports!
Richard Baxter, Liverpool
I recently took the PADI Open Water course for my 13th birthday. At first it felt incredibly strange to be breathing under water in the pool. My buoyancy control was awful but we had great fun learning tired-diver tows!
The next four dives were in the sea at Falmouth. At first, I had a lot of trouble equalising but my last dive was fine. We saw a huge ballan wrasse, which came amazingly close, a velvet swimming crab that was in the rocks, a spiny starfish "walking", and a squat lobster and common cuttlefish, both of which were really cool.
My maximum depth has been 8.7m and I have spent 214 minutes under water so far. Thank you to everyone who put money to my course and Cornish Diving where everyone was really friendly, making it easy to learn and resulting in me passing the final exam with 97%.
I'm surprised that so few people of my age dive but would encourage more to "take the plunge". I have found diving an amazing experience.
Nicola Burt, Truro, Cornwall
I qualified as a PADI Junior Open Water Diver in Spain and returned home where I joined Diving Unlimited, and have been delighted with its support and encouragement.
Two weeks ago we dived at Stoney Cove and had great fun. We dived with one instructor and two divemasters. One of the divemasters took a bread roll and we fed the big shoals of roach and rudd. We dived around a helicopter, cars, a Transit van and a coach.
Robert Hill (13), Sidcup
It was my second dive after I passed my PADI Open Water Diver course and I was very eager to see some marine life. I was diving with a lady called Mary near the Sand Dredger just outside Portland Harbour at about 10m and noticed a gap in the rocks on the breakwater.
When I took a close look at the kelp I noticed an odd-looking piece of seaweed about 25cm long. It had eyes and a dorsal fin.
I was finning like crazy to stay still and stirred up a miniature underwater sandstorm, unfortunately covering up the greater pipefish's home. After three minutes or so the silt had died down but there was no sign of it. I didn't even manage to get a picture of this rare little specimen.
Ollie Penney (15), Weymouth
I read the article The Family That Dives Together (November 2004) and feel I must defend Neilson Holidays, as I believe the representative to whom Brendan O'Brien spoke wasn't up to speed with the facts.
Last summer, my wife and I and our two- and five-year-old daughters booked a two-week package in Bitez, Turkey, after a lot of research. Diving packages and kids' clubs booked, we set off full of excitement. Our 10 days' diving was great. We dropped the kids off earlier than advertised in the brochure, left them in the hands of the staff who looked after them brilliantly, then returned usually around 5pm to smiles all round.
The dive boat left Bodrum at around 9am and didn't come back until 4.30ish, so there was no option of diving half days. Experienced divers get to dive to 30m on both dives as there are large surface intervals to accommodate Russian try-divers, and the diving, while not spectacular, is a lot better than dealing with hyperactive toddlers back at the pool!
At no time were we told that one of us had to stay behind to look after them at lunch. The only guilt we felt was when I didn't go diving one day and the kids complained that I wasn't as exciting as the club reps!
We've booked again for this year, and I can see us doing so in years to come. Having children doesn't stop us doing a liveaboard either, but for that you need to talk very nicely to grandparents.
I don't blame ; Neilson needs to check that what it says happens does happen.
Nigel Pierce, Market Harborough, Leics
My husband, daughter Sophie, 11, and I have been diving for just over a year and have 50 dives each. We have dived in Sharm (twice), Cyprus, South-west Ireland, Tenerife and off the south coast of England. We have had no problems when diving with our daughter.
We research in advance the dive schools in the area and, having chosen one, make sure that we e-mail ahead with our requirements, informing them of our abilities and qualifications. Everyone has usually bent over backwards to make our diving rewarding. Sophie is thoroughly spoilt by the instructors/divemasters and there has been no shortage of offers to take her diving while my husband and I go a little deeper.
In particular we have been delighted with Waterworld in Kerry, Ireland and Oceanquest Divers in Tenerife. The hospitality has been second to none and both the lovely ladies who help run the dive centres have offered to take Sophie for the day while my husband and I went diving.
We know we can't go to Mexico, the Maldives and many other places yet, but they will still be there when Sophie is older. Meanwhile, my advice is to make the most of the countries you can dive in and do your research.
Sue French
I recently spent a day at Stoney Cove diving with friends. I was making my way back to the van, feeling tired and cold, and laden with cylinder, BC and weightbelt, and as I crossed the car park narrowly avoided what could have been a nasty collision with two girls of seven or eight, running at full speed with no regard for anyone else.
A little later, I was enjoying a very hot cup of tea when another young female, this time about six, managed to push her smaller brother on a tricycle into the back of my legs, causing hot tea to splash around everywhere but the children.
So it was with some horror that I read The Family That Dives Together. I feel that I am one of a silent but very large minority, or perhaps even a majority, who have grown tired of having inconsiderate people imposing their unruly children on me everywhere I go.
Why anyone would want to take young children to a dive site, I can't imagine. They are dangerous places with heavy equipment constantly being moved around, and of course there's the risk of the poor little mites falling into the water.
If you want to take your children out for the day, take them to Macdonald's or Disneyworld but please not diving. Let the rest of us have some peace.
Antony Heath, Leicester
My friends and I all want to dive as often as we can, so I organise boats for us to dive from. We are not a club - no chiefs, no politics, just diving.
My companions know that they dive at their risk and to the limits of their training. The problem starts on the boat when the skipper asks who is in charge. Obviously the consensus will be that I am, as I arranged the trip, but what legally does that mean I should do?
Common sense states that as a group we should organise our buddy pairs, fill in a marshalling slate and be aware of safety rules such as maximum divetime, buddy separation drills, recall notice, etc. but should I carry out a formal written risk assessments and briefings?
Should I tell people what they can and can't do, like telling those highly experienced divers with basic qualifications that they cannot dive to 30m because PADI says the open-water qualification limits them to 18m?
Should I even be booking the boat, as in both PADI and BSAC rules I am not qualified to marshal a dive (I am PADI Rescue Diver with a BSAC statement of alternative teaching). No skipper has ever queried my ability to book and organise a dive.
As I am technically in charge, does this leave me open to litigation in the event of an accident? If I do not conduct risk assessments, does this leave me vulnerable to being sued?
Should I have copious amounts of personal liability insurance, do I need to start getting signed disclaimers from each diver before each dive or is this "free-style" attitude acceptable? Are the days of understanding between mates gone?
I would be interested to see what any solicitors reading have to say.
Shaun Curren, Somerset
I read with equal amusement and worry Stephen Spawls' letter Buddy Reflections (November 2004), about those almost "criminally insane" divers who choose occasionally to go it alone. He seem to be implying that your buddy is your insurance for a safe dive. He isn't - you are!
As a solo diver, you assess the conditions before and during the dive. If you don't like it, you don't go in, or you surface early. There is no peer pressure to go deeper, longer or take any risks that make you uncomfortable - which helps stop those panic attacks.
If you run out of air, even though your gauge shows 40 bar, you change to your alternative air supply, and similarly back up your computers, torches, SMBs and reels. If you're out of air, what would you rather have - twin, pony or a buddy? Incidentally, at 40 bar you should have been out of the water.
Every month another fatality is reported, though considering the number of divers and dives, these are thankfully rare. But to suggest that a diver's safety depends on a buddy also implies that if a diver dies, the buddy must be at fault.
The buddy system may benefit most divers but adopting something of a solo diver's attitude may make you a better buddy. With limited diving experience and already two near-fatalities, perhaps Mr Spawls should put more emphasis on training and equipment than total reliance on the buddy system. If you can't look after No 1, you aren't going to help No 2.
Colin Whyte, Dover, Kent
In his article Dead Calm (September 2004), Steve Warren said it was not possible to be transported to a hyperbaric facility after dark in the Maldives. This is true of sea planes but not of speedboats. I have experience of night-time transport of divers with, thankfully, mild DCS symptoms, and speed boats are despatched from Male or the hyperbaric facility 24 hours a day.
Norbert Schmidt's letter Maldives Sharks in Danger (October 2004) makes some very valid points, but in saying that "the country has almost been stripped of larger sharks", he quotes some wildly exaggerated figures for past shark populations at both Fish Head and Madivaru (Rasdhoo).
I have been diving in the Maldives since the early '90s and working here for three. There are lots of grey sharks all over the Maldives. Fish Head supported only 50 when it was a regular shark-feed point. It is a small thila and would only attract that number if they were being fed.
Shark-fishing was banned inside the tourist atolls and shark-feeding banned at the same time. Both continue to be against the law but I have witnessed far more feeding than fishing.
A few years ago, I came across a local boat fishing for sharks, with several dead or dying on lines in the water. This was in an atoll with no tourist resorts but under the administration of Male atoll.
I contacted the Coastguard and that night an item on national TV news reminded fishermen that this was a designated tourist atoll and that shark-fishing was not allowed.
The fisherman, who claimed that he caught the sharks elsewhere, was reprimanded by the Island Chief and the Coastguard's office rang me to apologise on behalf of the Maldivian people to my divers. A piece also ran in the national paper. Only the fact that I could not prove where the sharks were caught stopped the boat captain from being imprisoned.
There is a natural ebb and flow of shark numbers on specific sites throughout the year and populations can disappear from one site to another for months at a time.
Today I saw three hammerheads, six greys and too many whitetips to count. Yesterday I spent 20 minutes in a brisk current with more than 10 juvenile greys. They must be reproducing somewhere.
Shark-fishing and the export of fins does happen, but if you know where to look you will find sharks other than whitetips all over the Maldives, and if you end up on sites where sharks are fed, you will see some very inquisitive larger sharks.
I do not support feeding or finning but this is a third world country and if the demand exists in the emerging Asian economies, it is almost impossible to stop shark-fishing.
Demand for shark fins is creating a negative impact on marine ecosystems globally and the real answer is to educate the consumers.
I have dived all over the world and can honestly say that the Maldivian Government does far more for the marine environment than any other dive destination. It is certainly more aware of its marine resources than the European Union!
Matt Kitchen, Male, Maldives
I flew to Tenerife from Manchester in October with my wife and three young children. At the check-in I mentioned that I had diving equipment with me. "That will be an extra £30 handling charge," I was told. Golf clubs would have cost £15. I was told the bag would be loaded so that the gear did not get damaged.
We had paid for flights for all the children and had not used up our baggage allowance but still they wanted to charge me. So, £30 lighter, off we went. Flying back, my dive-bag was not treated as special luggage. Air Scandic may want to fly you at a reasonable price but watch out for those hidden extras.
Ian Philbrock
I would agree with most of what Michaela Strachan said in the article Big Animals On The Box (November 2003). Our training encourages us to assess each situation/dive in relation to our experience and capabilities to decide if it is safe to dive or continue a dive.
However, she missed one essential facet of the argument. Sharks do not associate divers with food in their natural environment. I suspect that given time this may not be the case with sharks that are being repeatedly fed.
Are these sharks likely to start associating divers with food and approach or nudge expecting food? Could we be altering sharks' behaviour?
Many shark attacks are put down to mistaken identity. How do we know that some of these are not due to sharks associating a diver with possible feeding? Where shark-feeding takes place regularly, is it as safe to do an ordinary dive at about feeding time as it would in a non-feeding region?
Does the regular feeding attract more sharks to the area? Is the shark population becoming denser? What effect would the greater density of predators have on the local prey?
Is any proper research being done into long-term effects?
John Parker, Nottingham
Nice to see, in the grossly commercial business of diving, that Capernwray dive centre has not lost its personal touch.
On 3 November it held a "party" to celebrate 10 years in business - and it was free. Free diving (albeit night-diving), free entrance, free fireworks, free huge bonfire, free BBQ and traditional Lancashire pie & peas and, if you were lucky enough to get into the car park, free parking. I don't think it has ever been so busy.
Was there a catch? No, it was just Capernwray's way of saying a big thankyou to the many divers who have trained, qualified and enjoyed diving there.
A big promotional or marketing stunt? It was far from that and was hard work for all the staff involved.
So from one happy generation of divers, huge thanks to Carol and her staff. Congratulations on the past 10 years and good luck for the next 10.
Alex Marsh, Bolton
Regarding Paul Woolley's letter (Colour-Coding for the Short-Sighted, October 2004), what good is colour-coding of BC buckles going to be in zero viz, night or other limited-vision diving?
All divers should be able to fully de-kit themselves and others, whether in an emergency or not, through touch as well as sight.
Let's face it, pinch-clips hardly move around the body!
Simon Rutter, Devon
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